on our broadcast tonight, trouble in the air. now we've learned of a third incident, another row of seats comes loose on another american airlines flight and another emergency landing. a growing recall tonight affecting a lot of american consumers. and it's not just peanut butter they're taking off shelves. it's a lot of different brands and related products. the countdown to the first big debate in the race for president tonight. we're live inside the hall in denver as the preparations wind down, the event approaches and our new polling numbers will debut here tonight. striking back, the television news anchorwoman who went on the air and took on a viewer's e-mail that said she was too heavy.

"nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening, we've reported a lot on the changing airline industry, what we used to be able to count on. still, we've always been able to count on the fact that the seats were bolted to the floor of the aircraft. that has not been the case on american airlines recently in three separate incidents in the air. and as you might imagine, it's the kind of story and the kind of aimagery that can be bad in the airline business. the investigation and inspections are underway involving american airlines. it's where we begin tonight with nbc's tom costello, he's at miami international tom, good evening. >> good evening to you, brian. in fact, three incidents and no more. american says that by the end of the night, it will have finished

inspecting 47 planes that could potentially have this problem. and it knows what the problem is. apparently a clamp was improperly installed on the base on the leg of a row of seats. in boston today, maintenance crews were removing the seats from several american 757s to make more leg room after seats on two other planes came loose from the track on mid flight, first on a trip from veil to dallas last week. mechanics thought they fixed it, then on saturday it happened again on the same plane flying from boston to miami. the pilot declared an emergency and diverted to new york. then monday it happened on another 757 flying from new york to miami. >> rows 14 a, b and c are completely disconnected. >> reporter: disconnected from the track that holds them down.

frank radice was on board. >> the weight of the people and gravity pushed them back and the seats actually went back into people that were sitting behind them. >> this all started when mechanics began moving seats in some 757s. sources close to the investigation say some of the work had been outsourced to a private contractor, then rechecked by airline mechanics. now american says it found a clamp that attaches the seats to the floor was improperly installed. >> somehow it didn't get properly locked down. mechanical failure, human error, we're trying to determine what that root cause is. >> reporter: all of it creating a pr nightmare for bankrupt american airlines. >> i'm concerned about it, because i actually have travel booked for the next two months through american. >> reporter: if you're holding a ticket on american, chances are it's nonrefundable. >> your best bet, get to the airport early, have their 800

reservation on speed dial, and just be ready with a lot of patience. >> reporter: one more note about emergency landings, there are a dozen or so systemwide every day. really only the most unusual ever make the news. >> tom, thanks. just over 24 hours from now, millions of americans will tune in to a stage with two lecterns set on it in denver, colorado. two men with 50 debates worth of combined debating experience will debate each other for the first time and for very high stakes. this is the first of this season's big league presidential debate. this one on domestic matters and the economy. it's already been a long race. voting is underway already in 34 states, and the polling numbers are still on the move. as you'll see in just a moment. first, we want to begin with peter alexander in denver where

they're getting ready for the big moment tomorrow night. good evening. >> good evening to you. when president obama and mitt romney step on the stage behind me tomorrow night, it's going to be the first time they've seen each other face to face in nearly five years. to give you a sense of just how crucial his performance is, romney aids brought podiums into his hotel conference room late today to help him simulate the real thing. fueling up for an afternoon study session today. >> governor, are you ready for tomorrow? >> i'm getting there. >> reporter: he's been practicing 12kizingers to sharp critique the president, may have gotten help from an unlikely ally. vice president joe biden today. >> hugh they can justify raising taxes on the middle class has been buried the last four years. how in lord's name can they justify raising their taxes. >> the romney campaign seized on that comment. arguing the president's policies

have hurt the middle class. taking a breather from his preparations outside las vegas today. he visited the hoover dam. >> it's spectacular and i've never seen it before. >> reporter: aides say he's been calling his family to unwind each night. surrogates on both sides today acknowledge the debate will be a pivotal moment. >> i think it's important for viewers to get a chance to do comparison shopping. seeing the two candidates face to face, head to head. >> this cannot be about decemberibledecembe decibles. it has to be about details, particularly for governor romney. >> reporter: romney says he doesn't like formal debate preps, says it feels too artificial. instead, opting for more casual sessions. aides are coaching romney not to get visibly irritated if his opponent gets under his skin. something rob portman has been able to do in practice sessions. with five mock debates under his

belt, the president rehearsing opposite john kerry. melissa wade is an expert on presidential debates and the head debate coach at emery university. >> they're trying to get the candidates to say the central message in as simple a form as possible with as much empathy as possible. >> reporter: one more note. both men will be joined by their wives tomorrow. ann romney says during past debates, her husband routinely looked over at her for reassurance. tomorrow, is the obama's 20th wedding anniversary. mrs. obama recently joked she would like her husband to write love you, on his hand so she and millions of americans can see it when he waves. >> peter, thanks. our political director chuck todd is also part of our team in denver, tonight debeauing our

predebate numbers. how interesting that 34 states are voting, but this race is on the move, either a gaffe or a big moment at one of these debates could change the numbers further. >> reporter: look, it's absolutely true. and let's look at our new poll. there are two numbers that matter more when judging whether a president wins re-election or not. for the president right now, his job approval rating is at 49%. disapproval at 48. our pollsters tell us that 49 is in the re-elect zone. look at this, the direction of the country, 40% say we're on the right track. it's not a great number, but it's the highest number we've recorded in three and a half years. let's move to the head-to-head with mitt romney. the president's number is steady at 49. mitt romney has picked up a couple in the last couple weeks, sits at 46. what's helping him? republican voters more enthusiastic, they make it through the likely voter screen.

it's been a couple tough weeks for mitt romney. that 47% mark has left a mark, if you will. is there anything you've heard that's made you more or less favorable on mitt romney, 54% say what they've heard has made them less favorable. that said, the president has a couple things not going for him on the issue of libya and egypt. more people disapprove of how he's handled the situation than approve. why is the president in a kma d commanding small lead? 57% tell us the economy is in recovery. >> chuck todd already in denver, part of our team on the ground there. and he'll be part of our on air nbc news team tomorrow evening for our live coverage. that begins 9:00 p.m. eastern time. that's when we come on the air. 6:00 pacific here on this nbc station. also tonight a big court ruling for voters in one of the states that passed a law requiring identification at the polls on election day. in pennsylvania, the tough new

law is now on hold after a judge said it cannot be enforced on election day, which, of course, is just 35 days away now. more on this story from our justice correspondent pete williams. >> for months, voters have struggled to meet pennsylvania's strict new requirement for a government issued photo i.d. at the polls. a law republicans pushed to suppress the turnout among minority voters. first, voters without a driver's license would need a state issued i.d. card, because that's a secure i.d. that can be used to board planes, voters needed a birth certificate and three forms of identification to get one. >> and it took me days just to get my i.d. >> the state relented and began issuing a new i.d., good only for voting, but kept shifting the requirements for it. >> this was a hastily drawn law designed to disrupt the vote for the presidential election.

>> reporter: the gap between the photo i.d.s issued and the estimated need of those who don't yet have them won't be closed in time. so he blocked the law from fully going into effect in pennsylvania for the general election. poll workers can ask for a photo i.d., but those without one can still cast a ballot. many voters said they agreed. >> if they gave people time, like a year. but it penalizes a lot of people who don't have i.d. >> reporter: nationwide, four states now have the country's strictest photo i.d. laws in effect. five more states have passed strict voter i.d. laws that have now been blocked or put on hold now including pennsylvania. >> some democrats were concerned the voter i.d. law could make pennsylvania a closer contest than the polls currently suggest. now after today, they don't have to worry as much. >> reporter: nationwide the toughest voter i.d. laws are facing resistance in court.

more states are likely to require photo i.d.s of some kind. we mentioned this consumer story in the news tonight. a staple of american life, peanut butter has become a source of worry because of a recall that's big and getting bigger, now including different brand names and all kinds of other products like cookies, crackers and sauces. our report tonight from chris jansi jansing. >> reporter: americans love peanut butter, every one of us eats on average six poundses of peanut butter a year. but a recall caused by some contamination is now expanding. products are coming off the shelves, touching off concerns for lunch box packing parents everywhere. >> my son probably has it at least two to three times a week. >> i'm extremely concerned when i hear about these outbreaks of salmonella. >> reporter: the product started with a recall of trader joe's cream my peanut butter. now more than 100 products made

on the same machines have been added to the list, including the brand names, archer farms sold at target, harry and david. no one has gotten sick from the peanut butter, the products are also being pulled by stores. they trace the contamination back to a processing plan the in new mexico run by sunland incorporated. nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our customers. as a precautionary step, we have decided to voluntarily recall our almond butter, peanut butter, and cash shoe butters, tahini products as well. >> classic salmonella symptoms, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps. they usually go away anywhere from 4 to 7 days. the symptoms can be worse.

>> reporter: four people have had to be hospitalized. two thirds of she's cases involve kids under ten. >> the elderly, people with compromised immune systems and pregnant women are most vulnerable. if you have any of these recalled products throw them away or return them to the store. for a complete list, go to our website nbcnightlynews.com. >> thanks for your reporting tonight. still ahead as we continue along the way this evening. a local television anchorwoman gets an e-mail from a viewer saying she's too heavy. then she goes on the air to take it on directly. we'll show you what happened. later, something's missing from the lone star state these days. why texas may never really sound the same. has gotta be just righ. perfect golden color. rich in fiber. my dad taught me, and i taught my son out there. morning, pa. wait... who's driving the...? ♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm, 99 bushels of wheat ♪ [ male announcer ] yep, there's 8 layers of whole grain fiber in those mini-wheats® biscuits...

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the folks joining us tonight from lacrosse, wisconsin already know a lot about this next story. and now tonight, millions of others across america are about to find out about it. a viewer of a local station there sent an e-mail to an anchorwoman. the e-mail said she was too heavy. she didn't like it, she did something about it, she went on television and took it on directly. nbc's anne thompson picks up the story. >> i am much more than a number on a scale. >> reporter: most of jennifer livingston's viewers know that, for a dozen years she's anchored the morning news at wkbt in lacrosse, wisconsin. today she chose to respond to a

viewer e-mail. >> i was surprised indeed to witness that your physical condition hasn't improved for many years. surely you don't consider yourself a suitable example for this community's young people, girls in particular. i leave you this note hoping you'll reconsider your responsibility as a local public personality to present and promote a healthy lifestyle. the truth is, i am overweight. you could call me fat. and yes, even obese on a doctor's chart. but to the person who wrote me that letter, do you think i don't know that? that your cruel words are pointing out something i don't see? >> reporter: in the e-mail, she sees more than just an unhappy viewer, the mother of three daughters sees a bully. >> what really angers me about this, there are children who don't know better, who get e-mails as critical as the one i received or in many cases even worse each and every day. >> reporter: she says the internet has become a weapon, and that this behavior is learned.

if you are at home and you are talking about the fat news lady, guess what, your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat. we need to teach our kids how to be kind, not critical. >> reporter: since her comments at 6:45 this morning, the website has gotten more than 50,000 hits, almost one for every person in lacrosse. the station says local schools used the video today to talk about bullying. the website gawker is carrying it around the world. >> do not let your self-worth be defined by bullies. >> reporter: a message starting an important conversation in wisconsin and across the country. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. >> she'll be a guest on "today" tomorrow morning. when we come back tonight, a big annual list is just out tonight. look, if you have copd like me,

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was their most solid lead in year. the dig has turned up zero traces of human remains. all that pressure from folks like mothers against driving. it's all worked in a big way. teenaged drinking and driving is down a full 54% since 1991. the asterisk here is, because of gas prices on track for a record this year, people are driving less overall. sadly, the bad news is, texting at the wheel, still a big problem and electronics in general remain a huge distraction. consumer reports is out with a big one. the best products of the year issue. it's full of interesting information for folks who are in the market for just about everything from ginsu knives from washers and dryerers, vacuums, paint, big screen tv's.

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it's been going on for decades. americans have been moving from the north to the south. it turns out all those relative newcomers to a place like texas means a lot of the folks living in texas don't sound much like texans. our report tonight from chicago-born, houston-area resident janet shamlian. >> listen to this. >> thank you all so much. >> reporter: the trademark twang. from friday night lights to just about every movie made in or around texas. even in the oval office. >> i got up at 5:30 this morning. >> reporter: the distinctive sound is getting harder to here. newcomers move into the big city and drown out that old draw. >> you can find it much more easily when you go to rural parts of texas, it's still there. but it's not as generally used in the city like austin.

>> reporter: at the university of texas, they're studying the slow demise of this slice of southern identity, comparing dialect and recordings made almost 30 years apart. >> i like growing up in the country. >> i hike down a creek to fish or swim. >> you bear down on them r's a little bit, drop your g's and just slow down and talk to where people can understand you. >> reporter: he taught old hollywood to talk texan. >> sometimes i lean to one side of it, sometimes i lean to the other. >> reporter: paul newman and james dean spent weeks perfecting the twang. >> reporter: patricia neal even thanked him when she won the oscar for best actress. >> i think the twang is getting lost a little bit. >> reporter: now, even at iconic locals like the boot shop or the

bbq joint the accent could be from anywhere. >> how is your day going today? >> reporter: a shift in the landscape as the iconic texas twang is fixin' to fade-away. janet shamlian nbc news, houston. >> that's hour broadcast from the old northeast on a tuesday night. thank you for being with us. i'm brian